A Season in Hell: A Memoir

This is a wonderful memoir and very very eye-opening. It scared me to death. I will have to definitely think twice before I choose to "fight" if the cancer is bad enough. She made me realize that some things are worse than death. I personally would not want to live with the damaged heart, kidneys, brain, bones, etc. that she has now to live with thanks to the poison put into her body to rid her of the cancer. This is one brave woman and I applaud her. I do think she had it easier because she is wealthy. Those of us common folk would probably die and not be able to fight like her anyway due to lack of funds. All in all, this is a great book and everyone should read it. It is reality and admittedly reality sucks, but that's life. Again, I applaud this author, great book !!

I was drawn to this book because my closest friend was diagnosed with esophageal cancer at age 52 in fall 1998 and was offered only palliative care initially until she appealed to be removed from her HMO. She was then treated at Georgetown but even after aggressive treatment she died in January 2000. Ms. French's book profoundly captures the essence of these devastating diseases and the roller-coaster ride for patients and their families. She ultimately proclaims a victory, not out of hubris, but instead with a new perspective on life. Outstanding!

Although not familiar with Marilyn French I read the book because the subject of a woman fighting and surviving esophageal cancer intrigued me. Marilyn is not just any woman but an intelligent author and world traveler. She gives an excellent picture of the real world of cancer. Things like waiting forever to see the doctor, enduring the chemo aftereffects, and making decisons that can either bring life or death are treated with candor and sharp honesty. She made me understand her experience as I cried with her and cheered with her. The best part of the book was reading of the support and love she received from some of her famous friends. I did not agree with her belief system but I cherished the strength I felt in the ritual of just "being " with someone. As a women's health care nurse it made me a whole lot more sensitive to how I treat patients and families

As I read this this grim memoir of a cure almost worse than the disease I kept comparing the author's wealthy and privileged situation to that of the rest of us women who don't have millions of dollars, marvelous famous friends, apartments convenient to top New York city Cancer Centers, and medical friends who can help us find the very best specialist. As miserable as the author's sufferings are (and they ARE miserable) they pale in comparison to what a person would go through who had the same disease but could not afford around the clock private nursing, medical consultation after medical consultation, and the occasional retreat to a pleasant summer home the author describes.This is not in any way a slam of the book, which I thought was a very accurate and revealing portrayal of what happens to anyone who suffers a serious health crisis that puts them at the mercy of unknown doctors and huge, impersonal hospitals. Instead I thought that this book would probably be a good reason to read this book before you sign your next HMO contract since it shows you just how dangerous it would be if you got a serious disease and were prevented from accessing top specialists and having the benefit of nursing and adequate rehabilitative services. I have personally experienced the same kind of supercilious negative treatment from doctors that French details here, as well as suffering from dangerous misdiagnosis, having doctors ignore painful and crippling symptoms, and being left with permanent damage from misprescribed drugs, so I knew what she was talking about. I greatly respected her for telling a story in public that most people don't want to hear. This is not your usual disease-of-the-week tearjerker nor is it a "how I saw God through cancer" memoir. It's a brutal, step by step documentation of how the quality of life erodes as a result of serious disease that makes all of us think about what we'd want to do if it were to happen to us--which it could and very well may. The author isn't a saint and unlike other reviewers here I found her bleak honesty about her emotions refreshing. Life does this and it is hard as hell to deal with. I'm grateful that this woman, obviously a writer to her very (damaged) bones, made the heroic effort to write down for us this record of her journey towards physical dissolution--and as a writer myself, I'm particularly impressed that she was able to produce a work this polished while dealing with the physical limitations she describes.

This book is not for the faint-hearted, as it spares the reader no amount of pain and suffering. It is beautifully and painstakingly written, and the author is not shy about condemning those in the medical profesion whom she perceives to be pompous, bored or uncaring. She has the highest praise for the nurses who cared for her in the hospital and at home. Although ostensibly about surviving metastatic esophogeal cancer, the book is also a tribute to the author's family and friends who helped her live through the harrowing after-effects of cancer treatment. While reading the book, one begins to wonder if the treatment was worth the debilitating physical changes Ms. French deals with on a daily basis, despite being free of cancer. In the final chapter, she assures us that her sickness brought her to a better place than she'd ever been before, and we are left hoping that she can remain in that place.